[* These Sonnets furnish us with a circumstantial and very interesting
history of Spenser’s second courtship, which, after many repulses, was
successfully terminated by the marriage celebrated in the
_Epithalamion_. As these poems were entered in the Stationers’
Registers on the 19th of November, 1594, we may infer that they cover a
period of time extending from the end of 1592 to the summer of 1594. It
is possible, however, that these last dates may be a year too late, and
that Spenser was married in 1593. We cannot be sure of the year, but we
know, from the 266th verse of the Epithalamion, that the day was the
feast of St. Barnabas, June 11 of the Old Style. In the 74th sonnet we
are directly told that the lady’s name was Elizabeth. In the 61st, she
is said to be of the “Brood of Angels, heavenly born.” From this and
many similar expressions, interpreted by the laws of Anagram, and taken
in conjunction with various circumstances which do not require to be
stated here, it may be inferred that her surname was Nagle. C.]